Road of Life
by Dobi Boushi
Summary: "All of us are wanderers on life's great journey. It's okay to change paths as often as you like – every step is progress." Red ponders the path he has taken in life and his time atop Mt. Silver. Hints of Red/Leaf, HGSS. One-shot.


**Summary: "All of us are wanderers on life's great journey. It's okay to change paths as often as you like – every step is progress." Red ponders the path he has taken in life and his time atop Mt. Silver. Hints of Red/Leaf, HGSS.  
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**Characters: Red, Gold. (Referenced: Blue, Leaf, Red's mother, Prof. Oak) **

**Pairings: Hints of one sided BurningLeafShipping (RedxLeaf).**

**Rating: K+ for some minor use of language on Red's part. **

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><p>Someone once said to me, "Red, if there's one thing in life you never forget, let it be this. All of us are wanderers on life's great journey. It's okay to change paths as often as you like - every step is progress." Well, I guess I stopped making progress a <em>long <em>time ago.

Because, even to this day, on the highest peeks of Mt. Silver, I still get letters from Blue and Leaf. It's not a common occurrence, really - I'm lucky if I hear from both of them within the space of a few months of each other. But still, they write, and that means something. No: it means a lot. Though Blue usually only sends a letter to warn me that someone is on their way for a battle; talking about how yet another person thinks they've got what it take to beat me, when in reality, according to him, he's the only one can beat me at my best. Cocky as ever, it would seem. But if he wasn't he just wouldn't be Blue. That said, he does occasionally includes something or other about what he's been up to since the last time he wrote; working with his grandfather, doing new research, visiting new places. That kind of stuff.

Leaf's letters are worse. Whilst Blue never really leaves Kanto, she spends most of her time travelling other regions. Last time I got a letter from her she was in some place called Isshu, or was it Unova...? Whatever the hell it was called, it doesn't matter - all that matters is that it's really, _really _far away from Kanto. And she couldn't help but rave on and on about how _great _the place was.

And what do _I _write in response, you might ask. Well, I don't write anything. What am I _supposed _to write? "Hey guys, guess what? It's _still _snowing up here on top of Mt. Silver. Saw a new Pokémon today. Crushed _another _person's dreams! Well that's all. Write again soon~!" Yeah, because that works _so_ well. Shit, I sound like Blue...

But back on topic: I never responded in the end. I'm as silent on paper as I am in real life. I...I just don't know what to say to either of them. Leaf in particular, though. If it wasn't for the tales of people suffering crushing defeats by my hand they'd probably think I was dead.

...I miss Leaf. I miss her _a lot_. Hell, I even miss Blue's smug-ass-expression. I miss them both. And mom. I even miss that old bastard - Professor Oak. The one who set me on this stupid path in the first place. "Help me complete my PokéDex!" he said, giving me one of those pleading-grandfather looks. I'm not even related to the old fart but that stupid look got me. At least he suckered Blue, too. Though I think he got me worse; and I'm not even his grandson for crying out loud!

If I could do it all over again with the knowledge I have now, I'd tell that old bastard to shove it.

Because, now, as I sit here atop some rock on Mt. Silver's peek, the wind pulling at my jacket and the bill of my favourite cap pulled down low to protect my eyes, I realise my journey along my current path in life came to an abrupt end the moment I reached the top of this stupid mountain. The king and champion of absolutely _buggar all_.

It's like I've forgotten how to walk my own path in life. I haven't made any progress in years. Three to be exact, but who's counting?

_Anyway_! Moving on. As I mull over that old saying, I realise something. Something that makes me want to kick myself in the head. _It's okay to change paths as often as you like. _But how am I suppose to change paths at this point? Unless I don't change paths per-say... _Every step is progress. _Nobody ever said that those had to be steps _forward_ for them to count as progress.

But, I'm pulled from my thoughts as a screech echoes over the winds of change -see what I did there?- a silhouette gliding towards me like some shadowy phantom out of a really bad, low budget horror flick Leaf and I would have watched as kids and then proceeded to complain about, saying how it wasn't even scary. What? We were _eight_! It's our right to be a little bratty, don't judge.

Moving on, once again. Downwards, towards where I sat, the phantom swooped. Revealing itself to be nothing more than a mere _Pidgeot_ - covered in snow and looking extremely pissed off, but a Pidgeot nonetheless. Its probably Blue's. No one else is insane enough to have their Pidgeot fly all the way up here.

It lands next to me, sticking out one of its legs, a piece of paper tied around it by a strand of string. The look on its feathered face says it all: _Take it; before I Air Slash you across the face of this mountain for being the reason I even had to come here in the first place. _Ignoring the death glare, I untie the paper and remove it from the Flying-type's leg. The grumpy Pidgeot opting to flee as quickly as it could - not that I blame it - leaving me alone, once again, to read the letter.

Surprisingly, it's from Blue. Never would have guesses that. Wait, I already did. Crap, Blue seems to have rubbed off on me much more than I thought he did.

Back to the letter, Blue says the same as ever, really. He's letting me know some punk kid called Gold - who names their kid _Gold_, seriously? Though, I guess I don't have much room to talk, either - is on his way to challenge me. Apparently he's already the Champion of the Johto League, which is rather impressive, I'll admit.

I scrunch the paper up and stuff it into my pocket, mulling over the scrawled handwriting. I can feel myself smile for the first time in what must be years. Probably because _it is _the first time in years - but that's not the point. A plan is already coming together in my mind. You see, I can count the amount of people on one hand that have seen me go all out since the days when _I _was the punk kid who thought he was completely invincible. And this Gold isn't one of them. So...if I were to, say make a few _accidental_ errors that would tip things in his favour, he probably wouldn't pick up on it...

It's not like I'm going to let him win. I'm just going to tone down the difficulty from Insane to Hardcore, I tell myself. Because I need to start walking life's long road again. I need to get off this damn mountain and start _living _again. So, when Gold beats me, I can step aside and let him see the end of the path is now right in front of him whilst I slip away into the blizzard to let him realise this is as far as _anyone_ goes. Might not be the nicest thing to do, or even very fair for that matter, but life's not fair.

I might end up walking back down the path I've already travelled. But no one ever said walking backwards to change paths was a bad thing. After all, how else am I suppose to find the fork in the road where I should have gone left instead of right if I don't go back and look for it?

My smile grows wider. I'm actually looking forward to this battle - which is another thing I haven't done in a long time. Look forward to a battle, the concept seems so foreign these days. And in the back of my mind, I can only wonder one thing. _I hope Unova, or whatever its called, is warm this time of year. Maybe I can get Blue to come, too. And we could hook up with Leaf and hang out, travel together for a bit. Be a group again. Just like the old days..._

I'm so lost in my own thoughts, I must have been sat there for hours, I don't even hear this Gold kid approach me. Despite the rather ridiculous crunch of the snow under foot. Leaf always did say when I spaced out I _spaced out_...

But back to Gold. He looks at me with fire in his eyes. A burning, unstoppable desire to win no matter what the cost. Something I use to have, but Mt. Silver beat that out of me a pretty quickly. He has this weird looking Pokémon I've never seen before, standing tall behind him, just as proud as he is. And just as confident, too. Its black and cream coloured fur is dotted with patches of snow, though the mane of fire - which looks totally badass, by the way - around its neck must have kept it warm. Fire-type, thy name in totally awesome. Though Charizard is still cooler, I reckon.

But Gold nods at me, and his Pokémon dashes forward to stand in front of him. I just jump down from my rock - casual as you like. Unclipping a Poké Ball from my belt I say nothing, because words aren't needed here. We both know how the coming battle is going to end, even if it hasn't started yet. The only difference between us is how we both got to that conclusion. _Well, _I smirk to myself, sizing the kid up as I enlarge Pikachu's Poké Ball for one last clash atop Mt. Silver. _I hope you enjoy being the true Champion, kid. Because I'm going to go home and enjoy a real bed again for the first time in years. Yeah, that sounds like a plan..._

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><p><strong>My entry for the first ever Rule of Cool Writing Challenge, with the prompt being the above quote mentioned in the summary. Word count wise I over did it, considering it was suppose to be between 500 - 1000 words, but when I got going I couldn't help myself. This was just me trying to twist the quote to allow a fresh look at Red's attitude towards his life up until the point were he's defeated by the player in HGSS.<strong>

**Hope you all enjoyed and if you'd be kind enough to drop me a review, that'd be ace. Enjoy your day, folks. Dobby~**


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